The grandchildren of a British man who reportedly faces 350 lashes for breaking the law in Saudi Arabia have appealed directly to David Cameron as “his only hope”.
Karl Andree, who has battled cancer and suffers from asthma, was arrested in Jeddah in August last year for breaching the country’s strict anti-alcohol laws after he was caught with home-made wine.
The 74 year old has served his time in jail but is still locked up as Saudi officials wait to carry out the lashings, according to his son Simon Andree.
Saudi Arabia’s move to maintain its share of the global oil market and expand in Europe will backfire, said the chief executive officer of Russia’s largest oil producer.
“The strategy that Saudi Arabia has chosen doesn’t bring any significant victories,” Igor Sechin, CEO of OAO Rosneft, said Thursday at the Eurasian Forum in Verona, Italy. “More likely the opposite.”
After the US cut imports amid a boom in domestic production, exporters from the Middle East are increasing output and seeking new markets, a move that isn’t helpful for the global industry, Sechin said.
Oil held near $47 a barrel after Chinese government data showed the economy expanded quicker than forecast in the world’s second-biggest crude user.
Futures were little changed in New York after advancing 1.9 percent Friday. Gross domestic product rose 6.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said today that Saudi Arabia's entry into East European oil markets, traditionally dominated by Russia, was the "toughest competition".
From Oslo to Doha, Riyadh to Moscow, governments that rode crude’s historic rise to unprecedented wealth are now being forced to start repatriating their rainy- day funds just to make ends meet.
The halving of oil to less than $50 a barrel has the potential to alter one of the most powerful economic and political forces of the past half century: the rise of the petrostate. These countries led a surge in state investments in the U.S. and Europe that now totals about $7.3 trillion globally, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
During the last boom, the oil countries flaunted their wealth abroad by buying stakes in iconic companies such as Barclays Plc as well as trophy assets including Manhattan hotels, European soccer clubs and London luxury homes, often in the face of opposition from the local public.
Such swagger is fading.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, cut pricing for all October oil sales to the U.S. and Northwest Europe and reduced the premium on its main Light grade to Asia by 30 cents a barrel.
State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. cut its official selling price for October sales to Asia of Arab Light crude to 10 cents a barrel more than the regional benchmark, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The discount for Medium grade crude for buyers in Asia widened 50 cents to $1.30 a barrel less than the benchmark.
Saudi Arabia boosted crude output to a record, deepening a global supply glut and sending the country’s stocks down for a seventh day in the longest losing streak this year.
The Tadawul All Share Index retreated 2.5 percent to close at 7,991.28 in Riyadh, less than 130 points away from a threshold for entering a bear market. The selloff in oil resumed as the kingdom said crude export in June beat a previous high set in 1980 as OPEC nations seek to maintain market share.
Two months after Saudi Arabia opened its equity market to direct foreign investment, stocks have been reeling as crude’s plunge prompted the International Monetary Fund to warn the kingdom’s growth may slow. The Tadawul’s moving averages made a so-called death cross on Tuesday, a sign to some investors more declines lie ahead.
Russia became the second largest supplier of oil to China after Saudi Arabia in the first six months of 2015.
The country's oil exports increased by 27% as compared with the same period of the previous year to almost 786,000 barrels per day.
The former head of BP’s Aberdeen-based North Sea operation warned yesterday the UK oil and gas industry is facing an early death unless there is swift political action to prevent it.
Dave Blackwood, who retired from BP in 2009 and is currently a non-executive director with Granite-based energy service firm Expro Group, was speaking as reports in Saudi Arabia said the kingdom was prepared to increase its oil output and claim a bigger global market share, potentially putting further pressure on the UK industry after the oil price slump of recent months.
Adding his voice to widespread calls for swift tax cuts for North Sea operators, Mr Blackwood said: “Nothing less than radical change will prevent the premature demise of the basin, let alone maximise economic recovery.”
The world’s top oil producer said yesterday it had no intention of cutting output to prop up oil prices.
Saudi Arabia also blamed commodity market speculators for driving down the price of a barrel of crude to its lowest level in years.
Ali Al-Naimi, the Middle East country’s oil minister, said he was “100% not pleased" with prices but they would improve, although it was unclear when.
The comments came at the 10th Arab Energy Conference in Abu Dhabi as the global oil and gas industry grapples with a plunge in oil prices to about $62 per barrel from well over $100 in the summer.
The decision by OPEC that the output ceiling would remain unchanged has seen the price of Brent drop below $75 for the first time since 2010.
Here is just some of the reaction from around the world following that announcement in Vienna:
Enermech has signed a joint venture agreement with the Abdulla Fouad Group (AFG) to support its growing operations in Saudi Arabia.
The deal by the international mechanical services group comes after AFG’s acquisition of the Shoabi Group’s oil and gas agencies last month.
Enermech’s operations in Saudi Arabia include providing crane, hydraulics, valves and pipelines services to the oil and gas industry.
